05-11 Tacoma Front End Conversion Complete List

Planning on doing this on my 2008 Tacoma. Only one question...is the Silver/Gray that came on the 2012-2015 models the same color that came on the preivous ones? Meaning if I got pre-painted panels, would the colors work fairly well? Or do I have to get the new hood/bumper/grill painted separately to match the current truck. Thanks!

 

If you can get lucky and find the same color silver it will be the same, except in 2015 there was another shade if silver called silver sky.

 

Depends what you're definition of "fairly well" is (which around this forum can be all over the place, especially when it comes to aesthetics). Also, for clarity sake when you say pre-painted are you talking about used factory parts removed from another Tacoma w/matching paint color codes or are you talking about online ordering new parts that come pre-painted? To me, you're rolling the dice ordering new pre-painted parts with nothing more than matching paint codes to your truck. Done right, you'll have the parts painted locally where they'll use your paint code as a starting point and tweak the shade from there to best match the rest of your truck. And if you really want to be proper about it, you'd consider having the adjacent panels/parts blended to account for their aged paint and clear coat.

 

They are not the same color. the 12-15 models have a darker shade of silver.

 

Like others have said there are 12-15 trucks that used the same silver but 12-15 Tacomas that also had a darker silver variant. Only way to tell is to check the paint code in the door jam sticker. You should have the paint code circled in red.

 

Question for anyone reading this...
All my parts are pretty much in the mail, I plan on dropping them off at the body shop next week. Everything except the hood is OEM, how stupid would I be to not test fit everything prior to getting it painted?

 

Other than checking everything for shipping damage personally I would feel comfortable getting the bumper, hood, grille and other small parts painted without test fits. I did no test fit prior to my truck build.

Only time I would make an exception is if the truck was in a front end collision prior to parts replacement.

 

I've said it before, but the conversion on your truck looks better than most and I'm not exactly sure why.
Did you go with aftermarket hood?
Another stupid question... The little tabs on the top lip of the OEM bumper, where do those clip in? I'm pretty sure some of mine are broken off but I've seen other used bumpers and they all seem to be broken.

 

I would also ask the body shop about seam sealing your new hood before they get it painted. Our shop is always required to do this to new Toyota & Lexus doors/hoods/liftgates and trunk lids because they don't come sealed from the factory.

Here's an example of the process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2No5efiFEk

 

Appreciate it, I don't have anything special though, just an OEM looking aftermarket TRD sport hood. Do you have a picture of the tabs you're referring to on the bumper?

 

Not at the moment but let me see if I can find some online.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=201...client=ms-android-google#imgrc=In0LzTehcWNucM

They look exactly like this.

 

If its the one on top of bumper below grill that were your grill tab slide into . If you look on bottom of grill you will see it .

 

Its all about the stance

 

There are like six of them, their little square tabs on the top lip of the bumper. They look like they would push into some sort of fastener.

 

Yea thats were the grill will slide into.

 

Hey dude, I'm curious how you got your hood to line up so well. It's aftermarket, correct? I changed out the self-centering bolts but mine still looks like shit.

 

My hood is aftermarket. You can try moving the fenders around to compensate for the bad hood gaps. Some aftermarket parts do have issues with the stamping.

 

The fenders don't need to be swapped do they? I mean, the 05-11 fenders line up ok with the 12-15 hood and headlights? If so, the only fender parts needed would be the fender flare parts on the bumper cover and the wheel well liners right?

 

Yes.